After two years of toil, former Elon goalkeeper finds it's his time to shine

Zachary Horner / Times-News correspondent

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 20, 2013 at 12:53 AM

Former Elon goalkeeper Clint Irwin did something this spring that only two Major League Soccer keepers had ever done before: Record five shutouts in the first 10 career starts. The other two were all-stars during their playing careers.

That from a guy who almost didn’t make it.

After a successful career with the Elon’s men’s soccer team, which included four first-team all-Southern Conference selections, Irwin figured he would end up with a selection in the MLS SuperDraft in 2011. After all, he graduated early from Elon to be ready.

“I did that on purpose to be ready for the MLS Draft,” he said.

Instead, he received only a preseason tryout from the New England Revolution, but didn’t make the team. The best offer he logged, the one he took, was with the Capital City FC, a team in the Canadian Soccer League, the third tier of Canadian soccer.

He struggled through a season there of cheap hotels, Chinese take-out, living on $500 a month, with living expenses paid for. It wasn’t an easy time, but he was chasing his dream of playing professional soccer.

“It’s hard,” Irwin said. “You pretty much have to pick up another job, especially in the offseason. You have certain responsibilities that you have to take on outside of your normal professional soccer job, which makes things more challenging.”

The Charlotte native returned home for the 2012 season, playing with the Charlotte Eagles of the USL, the third tier of American soccer, after a couple of trials with MLS teams got him nowhere. He played seven games for the Eagles.

At the start of the 2013 season, Irwin had tryouts with the New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew before taking a call from the Rapids.

“I wanted to have somewhere to play,” he says. “(The offer from the Rapids) was kind of out of the blue.”

The season kicked off March 2. Irwin didn’t suit up for the first game, sat on the bench for the second game and was all set to be warming the sidelines again for the third game.

About four minutes into the Rapids’ March 16 matchup with Real Salt Lake, Colorado starting goalkeeper Matt Pickens suffered a broken forearm when he collided with a RSL defender trying to snag a corner kick. Irwin, who had never played a minute of MLS soccer, was called upon.

“It was kind of a whirlwind moment,” he said. “You prepare yourself to play in every game. I think I was ready and I wasn’t really over-awed by a lot of the circumstances.”

Irwin played the rest of the match, making three saves and helping the Rapids to a 1-1 draw. He has started every game since, with a 13-8-9 record, with 10 shutouts overall. His play helped the Rapids to good position in the MLS playoff race.

To think, he was this close to quitting.

“Pretty much every time someone says, ‘You’re not good enough,’ you have your doubts of, ‘Are they right?’ ” he said. “At the same time, I had to put those results to the side and say, ‘I don’t think they’re right.’ ”

What kept him in the game?

“I always find it difficult to stop doing something, I want to see it through,” Irwin said. “It was a product of that, and at the same time I wanted to be someone who didn’t look back and didn’t want someone else to say, ‘You weren’t good enough and didn’t get a chance.’ I just wanted to prove that to myself.”

Consider that point proven.

And his coach took notice.

“He’s shown what he has been showing since he came to the club — personality,” Rapids coach Oscar Pareja told The Denver Post in May. “It’s unbelievable how he came up with such matureness. It’s big. And he has a high ceiling, too.”

Irwin hasn’t forgotten about his alma mater and its 10-3-1 start to the 2013 season that has the Phoenix in the national rankings. He said he tries to watch every game he can and talks to coach Darren Powell at least once a week.

“They’re having a fantastic season again this year,” he said. “The program’s playing pretty well.”

Current Phoenix goalkeeper Nathan Dean is one of the top goalkeepers in the Southern Conference this year, registering four shutouts. That gives Dean 14 career shutouts, eight shy of Irwin’s all-time program record. Irwin is impressed with Dean’s performances.

“Every game I watch, he gets two or three big saves,” he said.

Much like himself.

Irwin is tied for third in the MLS in save percentage — around 71 percent — and tied for fourth in shutouts.

However, don’t let the individual stats and success paint the picture of Irwin, and that comes from not having a guaranteed spot on the Rapids roster next year despite all the success.

“I think right now I’m just focused on finishing out the season,” he said. “I haven’t had any discussions about next year, and I’m OK with that. I want to focus on this year and on my performances and in the offseason those things will be sorted.”

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